> You live at the top of the mountain (I would think more likely at a
somewhat
> lower elevation) or on the Eastern side of the Cascade Mountains?

Ken, right you are, just East of the Cascades at 1100' in the same dryland
that  you knew.   The Critters certainly are here, scorpions included.   We
have a local 1894 diary that records the first scorpion discovered in BC,
and it being sent to the then new Provincial Museum where there was much
excitement about it.  (I always shudder a bit about the notion of white
men's "discovery" claims because I have so many Indian friends.)   I did
spend some wonderful years living on top of mountains in fire lookouts.  It
is really interesting residing in places where there is more sky than earth
in your daily view and life moves at cloud-time, but that is another story.

Actually all this relates to the building restoration I am involved with
since the dry climate has been a major factor in preservation of the wood
structure and machinery.   The building was built in 1876 with whip-sawn
lumber and broad-axed logs cut the same month that Custer was being cut down
just to the Southeast.   The roof sheathing clearly shows the whip saw
marks.   New shingles were put on during initial restoration  in 1981.
There is now only one set of empty nail holes in the boards, those of the
original wood shake roofing that lasted 104 years.

Since all the lumber was cut from 12" broad axe squared logs, I have often
wondered what it would feel like to saw many hundreds of feet of 12" stuff
by hand.   For school class demonstrations, I have the kids help me cut 2 x
4s in half with a whip saw, and there is a nice rhythm when you get to
pulling with a good person on the  bottom who knows not to push.    I have
often wished to count the saw strokes per foot in the old 12" lumber and
estimate how long it would take to do the work by using a good measure of
time per stroke.   Any practical whip-saw boys out there ?

cp in bc